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Bond Market: Why Is Everything Upside Down?

Recently, the bond market flipped upside down—raising recession fears, unnerving investors and driving stock markets to one of their worst days all year. What’s going on?

Bond yields in major developed countries declined sharply in mid-August, bringing the total amount of negative-yielding bonds around the globe to more than $16 trillion. The entire German yield curve is below zero. In the U.S., the 30-year Treasury yield fell below 2% for the first time in history, causing the yield spread between two-year/10-year Treasuries to invert briefly, for the first time since 2007. The three-month/10-year spread has been inverted on and off since March.

Because yield curve inversions have preceded every U.S. recession in modern history (although in some cases an inversion has sent a false signal), the state of the yield curve triggered recession fears, driving stocks sharply lower.

30-year Treasury bond yields dipped below 2% for the first time ever in August

Source: Bloomberg, daily data as of 08/15/2019. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

It isn’t supposed to work this way. Negative interest rates—especially at the long end of the yield curve—are a new phenomenon. Bonds shouldn’t have negative yields. You don’t pay a borrower to take a loan from you. Not only should bond yields be positive, but longer-term bonds should have higher yields than short-term bonds—that’s a “normal” yield curve. Investors usually demand a risk premium to compensate for tying up their money for a longer period of time. Inverted yields, besides being abnormal, also tend to occur when the Federal Reserve has been tightening policy aggressively to quell inflation—not when it is easing rates, as it has done recently.

While many of the questions investors are asking have no easy answers, here are a few thoughts on some of the most common concerns:

1. Why are bond yields negative in so many countries?

Negative-yielding bonds are the result of both short- and long-term factors. Short-term factors include:

Slowing global growth compounded by the U.S.-China trade war. Europe is on the cusp of recession, with the manufacturing sector already in contraction in Germany, its largest economy. China’s industrial production growth rate has slowed to a 17-year low amid a falling demand for manufactured goods, while its credit growth has slowed to a crawl.

Fears that the trade war will last a long time. A protracted trade war could weigh on global growth and potentially pull the U.S. into a recession.

Negative policy rates in many countries. The European Central Bank (ECB), the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and others have pushed short-term rates to zero or below in an effort to stimulate lending and economic growth. It’s notable that more than 40% of the negative-yielding bonds are in Japan, with the rest European in origin.

Large central bank balance sheets have reduced the supply of bonds available to the market. The Fed has reduced its balance sheet, but only by about $650 million from a peak level of $4.5 trillion, and will soon hold it steady. The ECB has bought up much of the supply on the market, and issuance is low because budgets aren’t expanding. The BOJ largely buys whatever bonds are issued.

Then there are the long-term factors, the ones that affect the term premium* (as “term premium” isn’t a phrase you typically hear in daily conversation, I’ve included a review of the concept below). These long-term factors include:

Aging populations in developed countries, leading to rising demand for income-generating investments, like bonds.

Markets don’t believe central banks will be able to raise policy rates much or at all over the long run, due to slow growth, low inflation, and an overhang of debt.

Deflation or “Japanification” fears. Japan has spent the past few decades fighting deflation due to an aging and declining population, and slow growth due to too much debt. Some economists fear other advanced economies could fall into the same long-term rut.

Strong demand for long duration, safe assets by insurance companies and pension funds that need assets to match up with their liabilities.

Safe-haven seekers: Investors who are looking for safety or a hedge against a decline in equities appear willing to pay a price in the form of a small negative yield. This is occurring outside the U.S., where short-term rates are more negative than long-term yields. In the U.S., cash and cash-equivalent investments (such as Treasury bills or money market funds) still offer a decent yield.

3. Does the inverted yield curve mean there is a recession coming soon?

Not necessarily, but it does signal that the risk of recession is rising. An inverted yield has been a reliable indicator of recession. Every recession in modern history has been preceded by an inverted yield curve. However, not every inversion has led to a recession in the next one to two years; there have been a few false signals.

“It’s different this time.” Those are the four most dangerous words in finance, but every cycle is unique. In this cycle, the unusual feature is that the inversion of the yield curve is being led by the steep drop in long-term rates rather than a sharp rise in the short-term federal funds rate. Although the Fed probably went too far with the rate hikes last year, the economy is still posting trend growth of around 2% to 2.5% or so, and credit still seems to be flowing freely to consumers and businesses at reasonable rates and generally on easy terms.

Flat or inverted yield curves may be the new normal. If the term premium* remains in negative territory for an extended period of time, it is much more likely that the yield curve will tend to be flat or inverted more frequently. The longer-term drivers of the negative term premium suggest that long-term yields may not have that much upside. Consequently, cyclical upswings in growth that push short-term rates higher could mean extended periods of time with the yield curve flat or inverted.

Recession is a risk. Nonetheless, with the global economy weakening and the trade war at a standoff, investors are wise to be cautious.

4. What would turn the bond market right side up?

A lasting trade deal between the U.S. and China that removed tariffs and resolved longer-term issues about intellectual property rights would likely send bond yields higher. It probably would provide a welcome boost to business confidence and investment in the U.S. and globally.

Fiscal stimulus outside the U.S. There has been some speculation that Germany is considering increased government stimulus to boost growth, as it has a budget surplus. There are also hints that China will shift policy to ease financing provisions to small businesses.

Inflation. Recent Consumer Price Index and wage growth readings suggest news of the death of inflation may be premature. Inflation is still quite low, but there are hints that it is picking up. Unit labor costs are accelerating and the velocity of money1 has been rising—two indicators that could mean more inflation in the next one to two years than expected.

5. What should I do now?

Focus on higher credit quality. We continue to suggest staying up in credit quality. With the economy growing at a slow pace and yield spreads versus Treasuries relatively low, the risks are rising that lower-rated bonds could be downgraded or could default.

Consider adding intermediate- to longer-term bonds when yields rise. Despite the declining trend in Treasury yields, we believe investors should not abandon their longer-term bond holdings. With the potential for short-term rates to fall even further, intermediate- and longer-term bonds allow investors to lock in yields, and provide diversification benefits in case yields do continue to drop. While “chasing the market” isn’t a good idea, consider periods when yields rise as an opportunity to add longer-duration securities. We also continue to suggest bond barbells and bond ladders as strategies to consider in the current environment.

Stay diversified. When markets become volatile, the benefits of diversification become more visible. Fixed income securities, particularly U.S. Treasuries, historically have provided a good counterbalance against a decline in stock prices. Don’t just focus on nominal performance—pay attention to risk-adjusted returns.

Treasuries historically have provided the best “hedge” against a decline in stock prices.

Note: Correlation is a statistical measure of how two investment have historically moved in relation to each other, and ranges from -1 to +1. A correlation of 1 indicates a perfect positive correlation, while a correlation of -1 indicates a perfect negative correlation. Correlations shown represent an equal-weighted average of the correlations of each asset class with the S&P 500® index during the five-year period between August 2014 and August 2019. Source: Bloomberg, using weekly total returns data as of 8/16/2019. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

* Term Premium: A Brief Review

The term premium is the extra yield investors demand to tie up their money for a long time period versus just holding short-term investments. To understand it, start with the equation that describes how bond yields are determined: Bond yields = the weighted average of short-term interest rates + a term premium.

As an example, an investor with a 10-year time horizon can buy either a 10-year bond or a series of short-term bonds over the course of 10 years. In other words, you have a choice of rolling over T-bills for a decade, or just buying the 10-year note.

To decide which is better, you can look at what the market expects short-term interest rates to do over the next 10 years, and compare that to the current yield on the 10-year note. (The expected path of short-term rates is found in the “forward curve”). Normally, the yield of the 10-year note will be higher than the weighted average of what the market is pricing into the path of short-term rates. That’s because there is a risk that the path of short-term rates will diverge from what’s priced into market expectations.

Consequently, most investors will demand a higher yield to compensate for the chance that short-term rates will move up faster than what is priced into the market. Historically, when there is a divergence between the forward curve and the actual path of short-term rates, it has usually been due to inflation rising faster than anticipated, leading to higher short-term rates. If the risk premium isn’t big enough, the investor who chose bonds instead of rolling over T-bills will have underperformed. So inflation expectations play an important role in the term premium. Other factors do as well—prospects for supply and demand based on demographics and investor preferences.

1 The velocity of money is the number of times one dollar is spent to buy goods and services per unit of time. If the velocity of money is increasing, then more transactions are occurring between individuals in an economy.

The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned here may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decision.

All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market or economic conditions. Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results and the opinions presented cannot be viewed as an indicator of future performance.

Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur management fees, costs and expenses, and cannot be invested in directly.

Diversification strategies do not ensure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.

Fixed income securities are subject to increased loss of principal during periods of rising interest rates. Fixed-income investments are subject to various other risks including changes in credit quality, market valuations, liquidity, prepayments, early redemption, corporate events, tax ramifications and other factors.Lower-rated securities are subject to greater credit risk, default risk, and liquidity risk.

International investments involve additional risks, which include differences in financial accounting standards, currency fluctuations, geopolitical risk, foreign taxes and regulations, and the potential for illiquid markets. Investing in emerging markets may accentuate these risks.

Tax-exempt bonds are not necessarily suitable for all investors. Information related to a security's tax-exempt status (federal and in-state) is obtained from third parties, and Schwab does not guarantee its accuracy. Tax-exempt income may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. Capital appreciation from bond funds and discounted bonds may be subject to state or local taxes. Capital gains are not exempt from federal income tax.

A bond ladder, depending on the types and amount of securities within the ladder, may not ensure adequate diversification of your investment portfolio. This potential lack of diversification may result in heightened volatility of the value of your portfolio. You must perform your own evaluation of whether a bond ladder and the securities held within it are consistent with your investment objective, risk tolerance and financial circumstances.

The U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator, reported by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,is a measure of the prices that people living in the United States, or those buying on their behalf, pay for goods and services. The PCE price index is known for capturing inflation (or deflation) across a wide range of consumer expenses and reflecting changes in consumer behavior. The U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure Core Price Index is a variation on the above index that makes it easier to see the underlying inflation trend by excluding two categories, food and energy, where prices tend to swing up and down more dramatically and more often than other prices. The core PCE price index is closely watched by the Federal Reserve as it conducts monetary policy.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy is a subset of the above index that excludes volatile food and energy prices.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Sticky Price Consumer Price Index is calculated from a subset of goods and services included in the CPI that change price relatively infrequently. Because these goods and services change price relatively infrequently, they are thought to incorporate expectations about future inflation to a greater degree than prices that change on a more frequent basis. One possible explanation for sticky prices could be the costs firms incur when changing price. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Sticky Price Consumer Price Index, Less Food and Energy is a subset of the above index that excludes volatile food and energy prices.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland 16% Trimmed-Mean Consumer Price Index is a measure of core inflation calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The Trimmed-Mean CPI excludes the CPI components that show the most extreme monthly price changes. This series excludes 8% of the CPI components with the highest and lowest one-month price changes from each tail of the price-change distribution resulting in a 16% Trimmed-Mean Inflation Estimate.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Median Consumer Price Index is a measure of core inflation calculated the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Ohio State University. Median CPI was created as a different way to get a 'Core CPI' measure, or a better measure of underlying inflation trends. To calculate the Median CPI, the Cleveland Fed analyzes the median price change of the goods and services published by the BLS. The median price change is the price change that’s right in the middle of the long list of all of the price changes. This series excludes 49.5% of the CPI components with the highest and lowest one-month price changes from each tail of the price-change distribution resulting in a Median CPI Inflation Estimate.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Treasury Index measures U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate, nominal debt issued by the U.S. Treasury. Treasury bills are excluded by the maturity constraint, but are part of a separate Short Treasury Index. STRIPS are excluded from the index because their inclusion would result in double-counting.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Treasury Long Bond Indexincludes all publicly issued, U.S. Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of 10 or more years, are rated investment grade, and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a market-value-weighted index of taxable investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage backed securities, with maturities of one year or more. The 1-3 year, 5-7 year, and 10+ year indexes are all components of the broad U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

The Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed tax exempt bond market. The index includes state and local general obligation, revenue, insured and pre-refunded bonds.

The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate ex USD Index provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-rate debt markets. The two major components of this index are the Pan-European Aggregate, and the Asian-Pacific Aggregate Indices.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Bond Index covers the U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. Securities are included if rated investment-grade (Baa3/BBB-/BBB-) or higher using the middle rating of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch ratings services.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) Index is a market value-weighted index that tracks inflation-protected securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. To prevent the erosion of purchasing power, TIPS are indexed to the non-seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or the CPI-U (CPI).

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High-Yield Bond Index covers the U.S. dollar-denominated, non-investment grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high-yield if the middle rating of Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below.

The S&P 500 index is a stock index that is designed to measure the performance of 500 leading publicly traded companies from a broad range of industries.

Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). BARCLAYS® is a trademark and service mark of Barclays Bank Plc (collectively with its affiliates, “Barclays”), used under license. Bloomberg or Bloomberg’s licensors, including Barclays, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Barclays Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays approves or endorses this material, or guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, or makes any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom and, to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

The Schwab Center for Financial Research is a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

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